For First Place

Chillicothe 4, North Coast 0

To tell you just how important this game turned out to be after the events of yesterday, I will say that this game was clearly important for both teams involved. The Chillicothe Paints and the North Coast Knights both entered this game, on the Knights' turf at the Pipe Yard, in a virtual tie for first place in the East Division. Technically, the Knights held the advantage over the Paints when it came to percentage points, but nonetheless, this game still had first place up for grabs.

This was a game that the Paints needed to have. I take that back.

This was a game that the Paints absolutely needed to have. Thankfully for the loyal fans of Ross County, the Paints found a way to win this ballgame. Paints manager Brian Mannino put it the best after last night's game against Butler when he said that they just need to win ballgames. That's all that matters here, folks. The Paints need to win ballgames from here on out, and it doesn't matter how pretty, or how ugly, those wins turn out to be. A win is a win, simply put.

So how did the pitching do here?

The pitching was fantastic. Credit that mostly to the excellent performance of starting pitcher A.J. Achter. Achter stepped up big time in this game, and he would go on to pitch very deep into this game. He pitched seven innings deep, and in that time, he had one of the best rebounding kind of performances that I have personally heard over the radio.

He did get into some trouble, mind you, but in the end, he had his way with the Knights as his defense helped him out for the most part. Achter gave up five hits, two walks, and plunked two batters, but he didn't give up a single run. He struck out four batters to counter the mishaps. He pitched a solid shutout against the hard charging North Coast Knights. How about that?

Blake Mascarello pitched one inning of relief. He plunked a batter and gave up a walk and a hit, but he struck out two batters. This was a solid relief outing for Mascarello. He did what he had to do. Simply put. Krist Linster was the interesting choice for the ninth inning. He went out there for the final inning and sealed the deal. The pitching was just solid in this game for the Paints. This was clearly a game for the pitching to step up, and they did.

For the offense, Ben Allen had three hits. He had two singles, a double, and two RBI's. Kyle Gendron had a single. Eian Banks had an RBI single. Cory Maguire had an infield single and a normal single. Zach Leonard had a double. Tim Krofcheck had an RBI single. The batters were just great when it came to scoring runs, and I really loved how they just made like gangbusters on some plays. This was a great up tempo game for the offense to deploy.

Although, I do have to say that there was a very bittersweet moment in the fifth inning for the offense. The Paints had runners on first and third with no outs, and they just got three straight outs without even trying to attempt a double steal. This really bugged me a great deal because the opportunity was there for the Paints to possibly get a run out of that double steal attempt, since Ben Allen had decent speed on third base, even though Kyle Gendron doesn't have great speed. That's just me, but hey, a win is a win, and it doesn't matter how you get to that win.

The Paints return home for a game against the Slippery Rock Sliders, a team notoriously known for making things hard for the Paints on their home turf. At the V.A., game time will be normal, at 7:05 PM.